To the Ends of the Earth
by notenoughpotter
Summary: Elena's flipped her switch...and the sire bond's broken. That doesn't mean Damon's giving up on her. Their journey's just getting started.
1. Chapter 1

Um….surprise? Heck, even I'm surprised I'm writing this story. But, after basically being on deadline for 12 consecutive months, I'm needing a little bit of a break so writing stays fun. So, what should I do? Write more – of course, that makes sense.

I feel the need to warn you. This story is angsty – even for me. Last night's episode put me in an odd place emotionally. I kind of need to work through it.

I'm NOT trying to follow (or predict) the show. This one's all mine, but some events may overlap – intentionally or not.

Warnings: Mature – adult content, character death, blood, gore, violence, language, alcohol use, Stefan

This is the PROLOGUE. I know it's short. I like to take a running start at the beginning of my stories. Enjoy!

* * *

Damon strode down the all-too-familiar pathway. He could hear the unmistakable roar behind him as the flames consumed every tangible memory of Elena's earlier existence, barring the clothes she wore and whatever she might have left behind in his room before their ill-fated trip to the island from hell.

Glass shattered, and a loud rumble hinted that the upper floor was gone. He wouldn't know. Stefan could take care of looking back for all three of them. Damon's eyes were fixed on something far more precious…and even more broken.

Elena.

The second he'd done it, he'd regretted it.

Bowing to pressure from Stefan to _fix _her and from the overwhelming mask of pain and grief spilling from her eyes, he did it. With a single request, he'd made her turn it off. And in an instant, everything that made Elena who she was had disappeared.

The girl who'd stood in the middle of the chaos churning around both of them and asked him to take the cure with her so they could grow old together was no more.

He saw it in her eyes the instant before she dropped the match.

His Elena was gone.

Now he followed her as she marched down the sidewalk, oblivious to the neighbors beginning to creep onto their front porches, watching the Gilbert house in horror. In the distance, a fire truck's siren wailed. He had to hand it to Mystic Falls' Fire Department. Their response time must have set a record.

"Elena, you okay?" Old Mr. Whithersbee yelled from his front porch.

Elena never even blinked.

* * *

Damon stood and watched the flames flickering in the fireplace, not wanting to go downstairs quite yet. Stefan had the radio playing some inane top 40 station in the attempt to conceal his conversation with Caroline. It didn't work. If either he or Elena really wanted to hear their discussion, they could have. But why bother?

He knew the drill.

Caroline would be sitting on the couch with her hands clasped tightly together. She'd talk about plans…lists…things they had to do.

Stefan's eyebrows would knit together. He'd pace. He'd say that they needed to fix Elena…because that was what he did – ever since she'd turned in the first place, his brother had wanted to fix her, even when she hadn't been broken.

But she was now.

Elena should have been crying in the shower, overwhelmed with grief and loss. She would have sobbed until her eyes blurred and he had to help her move through the familiar motions of simply going to bed. She would have sobbed and wailed and gulped for air until she was exhausted and fitful sleep overtook her. In the morning, the sun would still be shining, and she'd be sad – but things would be better…because he'd be beside her.

They all would have been.

But that's not what happened.

Bowing to the idea that had been burned into him so long ago that Stefan was always right, he'd done exactly what he'd been trying so hard to avoid. He used the sire bond to control her – and not just something as simple as sending her home…to change the very nature of who she was.

Now she really was broken, and he couldn't fix her.

He'd seen the instant it happened. She'd looked at him through her tears, but she trusted him to fix it – to make everything alright somehow. When he told her to turn it off, she already wanted to, he'd been able to read her that well…she just needed permission. Once the switch was flipped, though, something else changed.

The light that signaled Elena was still in there was gone.

Fear crept through him.

The sire bond was based on her emotions.

What happened when she didn't have emotions any longer?

So he'd tried an experiment when they'd gotten home. Stefan and Caroline had gone on ahead. Elena sat in the car, her eyes not really fixed on anything in particular. He'd reached in and taken hold of her hand.

He led.

She followed.

It seemed like a good omen.

He walked into the library and poured a glass of his best bourbon. She needed the good stuff tonight. He held it out to her. He even told her it would be a good idea for her to have a drink. She'd feel better.

Elena just blinked back at him, still caught in the odd zombieish vampire state. She ignored the drink. Instead, she walked past him, up the stairs, and into the shower…where she'd been for the last half hour.

He'd busied himself with building a fire, not oblivious to the irony of thinking it would somehow make her feel better…or simply feel something.

Now he heard her behind him. Still silent. She hadn't really spoken since they'd left the house. She was rummaging through his closet, obviously looking for his shirt that she'd claimed as her own.

Sheets rustled on the bed, and the bed sighed as she climbed into it, taking her customary spot. He still didn't turn to face her. Before he could count to ten, her breathing changed. She took long, slow breaths. Even though he'd taken away her emotional pain, he hadn't repaired the physical exhaustion. She was asleep.

And he was glad.

He walked to her bedside, and with her eyes closed, he could pretend she was still there. _His _Elena. Her wet hair fanned out across the pillow, and he cautiously stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

She was still there.

Somewhere.

Deep inside _this _Elena…the real Elena was hiding. He wouldn't give up until she was ready to come back out.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's notes: First things first, thanks for all the kind notes saying y'all were happy to see another story from me. It gives me warm fuzzies. Y'all are the reason I write.

I do want to take a second to address a comment I received in the reviews to the prologue. I'm sorry if you don't like to read angst, and if you somehow feel that I'm not being true to my audience. I do feel that I gave clear warning that this wasn't going to be a fluffy story (which is why I labeled it angst). Y'all know me, though. I write romance for a living – I wouldn't leave you without a happy ending…but it won't be an easy trip to get there. So, if you'd rather not read angst – feel free to read a different story. For me as a writer, a story without angst/conflict is a story without much of a plot. Sorry….

Warnings: Mature, blood, violence, language, Stefan, Caroline, adult content, character death

* * *

"We have to have one." Caroline's hiss carried up the stairs, through Damon's bedroom, and into the bathroom.

Elena closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the conversation from downstairs and reached for the glass of bourbon she'd balanced at the head of the bathtub. She really did love this tub. Funny, the rest of her world was concealed in a dull buzz, but the hour she'd spent in the hot water amid the scented foam was definitely one of the best hours she'd spent in recent memory.

She'd hoped she could have said the same about waking up this morning in Damon's bed, but instead of the blue-eyed vampire, she'd only awakened to a note on the pillow next to her…apparently she needed suitable clothing. That was debatable. Right now, she could definitely think of a few things she didn't need clothes for, but they all required Damon's presence.

"I'll talk to her." Stefan was using his lecture voice.

Elena placed her drink back on the edge of the bathtub and ducked beneath the surface of the water. Not actually requiring oxygen made blocking out Stefan a little bit easier. The only thing this tub was missing was jets – or companionship.

With no emotions to speak of, Elena was surprised at how much she still wanted one thing. That one thing was almost the only thing on Elena's mind right now.

"What are you doing?"

Elena choked and sputtered as she was unceremoniously lifted from the water.

"You can't kill yourself like that. You should know that. I've tried."

Elena narrowed her eyes at the blonde lifeguard. "I wasn't trying to kill myself." God, Caroline used to be her best friend. What was she thinking? Elena must have been more desperate than she'd thought in years past, or maybe it was just because Caroline was at the top of the social totem pole.

"Then what were you doing?" Caroline stood next to the tub holding a bath sheet.

Elena didn't disguise rolling her eyes. "Blocking out your conversation with Stefan." Caroline shook the towel and glared down at Elena. For an instant, Elena considered snapping Caroline's neck to continue her bath in peace, but the water was getting cold anyway. She stood, enjoying Caroline's discomfort at the awkwardness of the moment. Elena reached for the towel and cleared her throat. "I think I can handle getting out on my own. No need for a babysitter."

Caroline hesitated, standing almost toe to toe with Elena.

"Elena's going to be good, aren't you?" Stefan leaned in Damon's doorway.

"Of course I will, Stefan." She let the words flow soft like butter out of her mouth. Deliberately allowing the towel to fall open in front, Elena clucked her tongue at the tightening in the crotch of Stefan's pants. She crossed the room and ducked into Damon's closet, not missing Stefan's gaze following her every step. "By all means, continue the conversation you two started downstairs. Unless, that's not why you came up here." She stood in the doorway with one of Damon's dress shirts dangling from her fingertips. Stefan tried to avert his eyes, but wasn't successful. "I could be persuaded…" She looked back and forth suggestively between Caroline and Stefan who were currently competing for the title of _owner of most horrified expression._

God, they were easy to manipulate. Elena watched as Stefan's cheeks reddened, and he averted his eyes. Now she understood why he favored missionary position. He had no sense of adventure.

No loss. "I'm not being serious." At least she wasn't if Stefan were involved. If Damon were back, well, then she'd rethink the idea of snapping Caroline's neck to get some privacy.

Her lips curled into a teasing smirk. Now she understood why Katherine toyed with him. He was far too easy to manipulate.

Stefan cleared his throat and shook his head. "I'll wait for you downstairs – after you're dressed."

"If you insist." She slid one arm into a sleeve and waited for an instant. Shaking her head, she slowly worked the other sleeve onto her arm and buttoned the top button of the shirt. Stefan wasn't the one she wanted right now, anyway.

Elena didn't miss the fact that Caroline stayed in the room. "So I need a babysitter now?"

"You're not…yourself." Caroline stared pointedly at the bed. Only one side was rumpled. Damon obviously slept in the oversized chair, and based on the way her forehead creased, that confused Caroline.

Elena crossed her arms across her chest stared at her. "He didn't sleep in the bed last night. He hasn't slept with me since we found out about the sire bond." She strode purposefully out of the room – not only to avoid the memory of sleeping alone but to avoid slapping Caroline across the face.

She marched down the stairs and stepped into the living room – stopping short at the box on the center of the table. The foul scent of smoke stung her nose even from halfway across the room. Obviously placed there to trigger some type of emotional response, she ignored it, trying to illicit a response more to her liking.

Spinning on her heel, she turned to Caroline. "Exactly how long did you wait before you told Stefan?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Caroline had always been a pitiful liar. It was a wonder she'd kept from being staked this long. All a council member would need to do is ask if she was a vampire, and she'd stammer herself to death.

"I know you've wanted in Stefan's pants since the day you met him…just like Matt and Tyler and Klaus, for that matter." Elena laughed. "And you called me the whore for sleeping with Damon." She stared at Caroline without blinking. "How long did you wait? Did you call him on the phone the minute you found out?" Elena stepped closer to Caroline. "Or did you wait till you could see him in person – just in case he needed some comforting?"

"Elena, it wasn't like that." Caroline glanced at Stefan for backup.

"Wasn't it?" Elena widened her eyes. "I never told Matt that you were sleeping with Tyler. So why did you need to tell Stefan?"

"Elena." Caroline templed her hands in front of her chest. "You weren't you. Damon was controlling you. You didn't know what you were doing. Just like with me."

"Keep telling yourself that. Maybe sometime you'll believe it." Elena snapped. "Damon fed on you, but you slept with him because you wanted to - just like I did."

She would have enjoyed the conflicted expression on Caroline's face if it hadn't been accompanied by heavy footfalls sounded behind her. "This may be the first time I've ever missed the ripper version of you." Elena turned to face Stefan. His eyebrows were working overtime today. "Seriously, you need to get laid. Maybe that would loosen you up. I'm sure Caroline would be willing to help." Elena turned back to peek at Caroline. "At least you were anxious to take him for a spin the first day you met him."

She turned, leaving them both searching for words. "I'll be upstairs."

"Elena."

Caroline pushed her once time too many. As Caroline's hand closed on Elena's shoulder, she reclaimed one emotion. "Leave. Me. Alone." She acted on instinct, breaking the arm of a wingchair over her knee. In a flash, she spun Caroline around, striking at an upward angle below the back of her ribcage.

Caroline gasped for breath, and Elena tossed her to the floor. Stefan moved as if he were about to go after Elena, but she pointed to Caroline writhing on the floor. "I'd make sure she doesn't accidentally drive the stake in."

With a grin, Elena was gone.

* * *

Damon deposited two shopping bags on the couch, hesitating before going upstairs. The only sound in the house sounded suspiciously like sniffles from Caroline. Definitely a bad sign.

"Elena?" He called out. She hadn't been in the mood to ignore him when she woke up at one this morning. That had been his job. He had half a mind to go ahead and break his promise to Stefan and see if he could convince her life was more fun with her humanity turned on, but then he remembered he promised himself too. He couldn't do it. Couldn't let himself convince that she really had feelings for him – unless he knew they were real…and for that, he was going to need to find the cure.

If he had a soul, he'd be going to hell. Not even a year ago, he'd forced his blood on her and then promptly promised himself he'd never force a decision on her again. Last night he made her turn her humanity off. Now he was contemplating forcing her to turn human again.

He was so screwed.

"She's not going to answer you." Stefan's voice sounded definitely distracted. Damon followed the sound of his brother's voice and Caroline's sniffles. He froze midstep.

Screwed might have been too mild a word.

His brother sat on the floor, pulling the last splinter of wood out from Caroline's back. Elena had attacked from below the ribcage, striking with an upward thrust. She'd been listening during that lesson. He hadn't been certain because all he'd been able to concentrate on was the feel of her body pressed to his and his palm sliding over her ribs.

"What happened?" Damon was ready to kick himself or snap a few necks. Was it that hard to babysit a baby vampire? But then again, this was Elena they were talking about. She'd always been able to push the envelope of what she should be able to do.

"She wanted some space." Caroline hissed through clenched teeth as Stefan probed the edge of her wound.

"Might have been a good idea to give it to her." Damon fought back a grin. He'd been waiting for this since Elena discovered the fact that Caroline had violated the girl code. If he'd been here, he probably would have enjoyed watching the blonde vampire getting a taste of Elena's anger. "At least she's feeling something."

"I wouldn't be laughing." Stefan snapped. "She almost killed Caroline, and she'd definitely regret that later."

"I'd hope so." Caroline added.

"Elena." Damon let out a slow breath. Apparently he needed to work with her on impulse control.

"You can yell all you want." Stefan stood, wiping his hands on a red-stained towel. "She's not going to answer. She's gone."

She wouldn't. Damon sped out of the foyer and up into the bedroom. Her favorite of his dress shirts was missing from the closet, and a recently de-humanized vampire was missing from the house. He flew back down the stairs, almost knocking Stefan to the ground. "One job. You had one job. Keep her here. And you couldn't do it."

"I was a little distracted." Stefan started to protest.

"So, where would she go?" Caroline appeared calmer, and the first hint of concern came into her voice. Elena wasn't herself right now. Even if she was, her friend had nowhere to go.

"I don't know." Damon stared at the box sitting on the coffee table filled with what remained from Elena's house. "But Elena's still in there."

"She stabbed her best friend." Stefan didn't look convinced.

"But she took her teddy bear." Damon nodded to the box and turned toward the front door. Elena was out there…somewhere.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: Originally this was intended to be a longer story, but I've realized that my schedule just isn't allowing time to work on this to update it with the frequency it really deserves. So, unless something really changes, there will be one chapter after this one – and perhaps a short epilogue.

I was trying to get this up for the 319 anniversary - didn't quite make it, sorry.

Warnings: Mature – violence, adult content, alcohol, Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline, short chapter

* * *

Damon stormed through the front door and into the living room, dropping his leather jacket on the arm of a side chair. He needed a drink. He needed a shower. He needed some idea of where on earth to find Elena. He didn't really care what order he took care of each. Stefan and Caroline spoke in low conversation tones from somewhere else in the house. Damon halfway considered picking up his jacket and leaving again. He needed to be alone right now.

If this had been six months earlier, he would have called Alaric to meet him at The Grill after a night like this. If Alaric had been here, though, Elena wouldn't be out there.

Hell, his life had gone from heaven to really effed up in less time than it took for Caroline to go through boyfriends. As feminine laughter echoed down the hallway, he paused. Stefan chuckled in return. God, his brother was flirting – with Caroline. Maybe he was wrong about the boyfriend thing.

Maybe Stefan really was ready to move on from Elena. Just his luck, he'd finally be able to sleep with Elena without knowing his brother was brooding a wall away…and he didn't have a clue where she was and even if he did, she wasn't exactly ready to slide into his sheets right now.

But she probably was sliding into sheets somewhere. Hell, he remembered those days. As much as they sometimes filled him with a twinge of regret, life was just easier back then. He chuckled at the irony. Back when he didn't feel anything, he lived for the pleasure of the moment. That's what Elena was like now, and the thought made his stomach turn.

He walked to the sideboard opposite the fireplace. He pushed one decanter aside after another. Tonight called for the good stuff.

"Damon? Are you back?" Caroline's voice rose with a questioning lilt.

Who did she think was pawing through the liquor cabinet? Really big mice? Tonight called for a lot of the good stuff.

He found the bottle he was looking for and reached for a tumbler. Shaking his head, he changed his mind. He tipped the bottle up, and the amber liquid poured smooth and sweetly through his lips, leaving a familiar, desired burn in its wake.

"Things went that well, hmmm." Stefan was lucky his hands were full or he'd be tempted to wipe that smirk right off his face.

He stopped drinking and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "Just _peachy_." He flashed the smile his brother hated and returned to his drinking.

Stefan rocked onto the balls of his feet and looked around the room, searching for her.

Damon fought the urge to roll his eyes. As if he'd be here drinking bourbon straight from the bottle if he'd been successful in his search over the last week.

"Couldn't catch her?" There was that smug smile again.

"Nope."

"She's covering her tracks pretty well. No signs of her attacks in the paper."

Damon stopped drinking mid-gulp. _No signs of her attacks?_ "Exactly what are you trying to say?"

"I've been reading the papers, keeping track of the news online. No wild animal attacks or new serial killers out there."

"Of course not."

"What Stefan's trying to say…." Damon cut Caroline off with a glare. This wasn't the time for Vampire Barbie to enter the conversation.

Damon thudded the bottle back on the sideboard hard enough the rest of the glass tinkled a warning to move away. "I know what he's trying to say." Damon approached Stefan with the stealth of a hunting jaguar. "I just don't understand why he's saying it." He stood a breath away from his brother. "Her humanity's off. That doesn't make her a ripper."

"Are you so sure about that?"

"Yeah." Damon leveled his eyes with Stefan. His brother might have a few inches on him in height, but he had several degrees of threatening that actually made Stefan waffle back a step. "She's no ripper."

"We can't be sure of that. That's why we have to find her."

"Because that's how you would have acted…." Damon advanced again on his brother.

"I know what it's like without your humanity." The furrow in Stefan's brow threatened to split his skull in half.

"We all do." Damon turned to face Caroline, shaking his head. "Present company excepted." He rounded back on Stefan. "But that doesn't mean we all turn into you." Damon paused, a loaded pause, purposefully waiting to watch his brother cringe. "Because that's it, really. Everything has to come back to you?"

He waited again.

"We have to find her now because you're afraid she'll turn into you."

"We had to turn off her emotions because you couldn't handle watching her in pain."

"We were looking for the goddamn cure because you needed to fix her in the first place."

Damon spat the accusations at Stefan like artillery fire. "She could handle being a vampire. She was adjusting. She was even having fun." A memory surfaced. Elena was dressed as one of Jack the Ripper's victims. A trail of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth, accenting the smile as she leapt into Damon's arms.

And he knew where she was.

He turned his back on Stefan and Caroline and reached for his jacket.

"Where are you going?" Stefan caught his wrist, and Damon shrugged out of his hold, the look in his eyes threatening enough that Stefan didn't fight.

"Somewhere you're not."

* * *

The man on the porch could have been an extra from a Star Wars film who'd gotten lost a few decades ago. Wearing loose fitting clothing with an ebony-black cloak, Bonnie almost slammed the door in his face. Almost. If she'd been able to slam the door, she would have, but the door stopped about an inch before it closed completely. No matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't seal.

And then it pushed itself open, taking her with it.

The hooded figure simply stood on the porch, doing a great Obi-Wan Kenobi impression.

Bonnie began to run backwards, but froze just like her door. She was pulled to the doorway, and her hand motioned of its own accord, beckoning the stranger inside. This was when she should probably scream. She should be shouting fire, help, UFO – anything that would draw the neighbors' attention, the words simply wouldn't come.

The cloaked figure moved slowly, steadily, stealthily through the doorway – not quite gliding but not really walking either. She honestly wasn't sure if he was really here.

And then the smell hit her. A mixture of mold and earthy dampness, it reminded her of the deepest corners of Grams' basement. The aura radiating off the man was just as frightening as the contents of the glass jars on the basement shelves.

This man was dangerous.

This man was powerful.

This man was the one they'd tried to prevent rising.

"Silas?" She was almost too frightened to say his name. His head turned ever-so-slightly in acknowledgement.

"You are one of the ones I need." His voice grated on her nerves like nails skimming across a chalkboard. Paper thin and raspy from disuse, his words were halting. Although his face was hidden in shadow, she could see that his lips weren't moving quite in time with his voice, as if they'd forgotten how to form words.

He extended his hand to her, she shrank back, not wanting the yellowed nails anywhere near her. As the cloak fell away from his arm, she caught the first glimpse of his skin. Blue-purple veins shone through almost transparent skin. Skin so wrinkled it looked more like a sheet that had been washed but crammed in a drawer before it was allowed to dry.

That would explain the smell.

The door slammed behind him, shaking the windows in their frames.

"Where is the other?" This time his lips didn't even move. He wasn't even trying to pretend the words were anywhere other than her mind.

"The other?" Now her voice worked.

He turned and waited. His body language saying she already knew the answer. "She should be here. They're destined to come here."

She _and _they? Who would he be talking about? And then it hit her. "You're looking for Elena."

"The doppleganger. I must have her." He lowered his hood, and Bonnie found herself looking into dead eyes. He might be walking, breathing, but the person standing in the room with her wasn't totally alive – not yet.

"The doppleganger. Of course you need her." What else was new?

* * *

Damon parked his car beneath the overhang of a sprawling oak tree. It was the only vacant spot he'd been able to find during the five minutes he'd just spent circling the fraternity house. He was one pass of the building short of compelling someone to come out and move their car when he spotted the parking spot on the edge of the campus. Someone must have decided midnight was their bedtime.

The bass from a song Damon didn't recognize pulsed from the house and the ground under his feet hummed along. These kids wouldn't know good music if it smacked them in the ass.

He squared his shoulders, eyeing the building. He wasn't here for the party – just one of the participants.

Co-eds in various states of inebriation lined the sidewalk and filled the front porch. Damon was reminded of the last time he'd walked up the stairs. His arm felt empty without her hand on it.

Just like the last time, no one even thought to question what he was doing there. These guys made it so easy. If he'd been hungry, he would have had a gourmet meal, but that wasn't the kind of hunger filling him right now. Now he needed to find her – to know where she was – just to see her again.

Leaving her with Stefan and Caroline had been a mistake. Just one on the ever-growing list of late.

Compelling her to turn off her emotions.

Not taking advantage of every second her eyes pleaded with him to make love to her, to hell with the sire bond.

Making her think for an instant that she ever needed the damn cure in the first place.

Ever since she'd said she loved him, he'd felt off balance. His world was spinning on its side. Because she was his world…and he never thought she'd really be his.

"This won't hurt." Smooth as melted chocolate, the voice cut through all the laughter and drunken chatter. She was here.

He snaked through the crowd. If she caught a glimpse of him, he didn't want her to run. He still hadn't completely decided what he was going to say when he found her.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

She took care of the problem for him.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Reviews make my fingers type faster...or at least that's the general idea. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up on Wednesday or Thursday, since we don't really have a "real" TVD episode then.


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